Literal Torture
by Homely
Summary: Rewrite. She knew that she'd married too early. She knew that she wasn't ready to be a mother. The one thing she didn't know? He was cheating on her. If an old friend can save you once, why not twice? Because Karen was never one for sappy romance. JxK
1. Sleepless Nights

**l i t e r a l . t o r t u r e**

**Chapter One: Sleepless Nights**

She hated this.

It was like torture; literally. The giant bubble slowly forming on her once slim body... One day, she would call this her child.

_Their _child.

Kai was out working... Again. He was never home lately. That sorry excuse for a husband left Karen alone watching boring old soap operas almost every night. Another thing about her new life she hated.

She couldn't help but wonder how her life got this way. She deeply, truly missed the days of her life which now seemed ancient; The days where she would just hang around the valley, at the beach or just in town. She missed the days where Jack would come by and visit her at the winery, or when she would pop by the farm and they could just sit and talk for hours on end. He was her best friend... Now they barely spoke.

Once Karen had married Kai, her and Jack grew distant. Eventually, Jack married Ann, a ginger haired girl from the local horse farm. Karen never really liked her.

Jack had a son, Tom. A cute kid... He was the spitting image of his father. Every time Karen saw them walking together as a happy family, she cringed with jealousy. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure of what she was jealous of.

Was marrying Kai a mistake? Possibly. When she lay alone at night, she often wondered what it'd be like if her and _Jack _had fallen in love.

Well, maybe they did. Maybe she was just too blind to see it.

But it was all in the past now. Jack was happily married... As was she. Well, take out the _happily. _Karen and Kai's relationship had started out great. He was a loving husband and he provided for her. However, over time he grew distant. Working late, secret phone calls... She knew that she was too young to get married.

She was only seventeen when he proposed. They didn't know each other too well. Not like how her and Jack knew each other. Kai had just rolled into town one day... And, well, he took a certain liking to Karen. They became friends. About three months later, they wed.

Now, after two years, a very pregnant, nineteen year old Karen was lonely. She was too young to be having a child, wasn't she? She knew it was true.

Another sleepless night crept upon her as the sun went down, hiding beneath a mask of thick clouds. Where was Karen's mask?

It was her life.

She didn't love Kai. How could she? He was never around anyways.

Karen sighed. This was beyond ridiculous. She put on her nightgown and lay in her bed, staring blankly at the celling.

The door to her bedroom opened, and she curiously stared over to see Kai entering. She sat up straight.

"Home early?" she asked.

"Yeah." he relied dryly, before walking off towards the kitchen. Karen sighed. He was home early. So what? It didn't make a difference. He would probably go watch TV for hours before coming to bed anyways. She lay her head back to the pillow, and let sleep slowly creep upon her.

* * *

Emerald eyes fluttered open as a beam of sunlight hit her porcelain skin. She groaned and rolled onto her side. Unsurprisingly, Kai wasn't there. He'd probably fallen asleep on the couch again. She sat up and stretched, ready to face yet another boring, depressing day. She stood up and got dressed, before waddling over to her full body mirror.

She was about eight months along now. Her enormous stomach hung past her jeans. She was wearing a black tank-top over a white one, the white one pulled over the balloon while she allowed the black one to ride up.

Being pregnant was so annoying.

Karen didn't even want this child. She'd thought about what a horrible person she was for thinking that, but when she really _really _thought about it, she wasn't ready. A child, at nineteen? No, that's not what she wanted. Her life was nothing like she imagined it was going to be two years ago.

What happened? She used to be so bold and aggressive. Now, she fit all the 'housewife' stereotypes. Defenseless, pregnant, and even useless.

Shaking her angsty thoughts from her mind, she entered the kitchen, and saw that Kai had left her a note.

_I decided to go drinking. I'll be back tomorrow during the day._

_P.S: Go grocery shopping. We're all out._

_Love you,_

_Kai._

Karen stared at his handwriting for a moment, before scrunching up the paper and tossing it into the trash bin. Typical. Of course, Kai would leave in the middle of the night to go drinking. Oh, and tell Karen to go shopping. She didn't really feel like leaving the house that day, but she knew she had to. It was her duty as a... wife.

She left the house, and the hot summer air felt uncomfortable on her skin. Her and Kai lived in her parents property. When Kai had first come to Flower Bud Village, he had lived on her parents winery. They approved of Kai, and encouraged the marriage. Karen would never forgive her parents for letting her marry so young. They were selfish people. They thought that Kai would make a good heir to the winery.

She arrived at Rick's within minutes. Flowebud Villiage wasn't very big.

"Hey, Rick." She smiled. The ginger haired man looked up from whatever he was doing and grinned warmly, glad to see his childhood friend.

"Hey, Karen, how are you?"

"I'm good." She lied and walked over to browse the goods, before selecting what she knew Kai liked. Karen wasn't exactly in the talkative mood today, so she made her purchases without speaking many words to Rick. She left, and headed back for home.

She walked through the town, eyes lingering on familiar surroundings. She saw the bakery, the flower shop, Jack...

Wait-- What?

She stopped in her tracks as she saw him walking up. He was probably doing the same thing as her; Shopping to provide for his family. Karen and Jack had an awkward relationship. The ex-best friends now only shot each other shy smiles and slight waves when they saw each other, but this time, Jack actually approached her.

"Hey, Karen." He said through a grin.

"Hello Jack." She said weakly.

"Long time no talk!" He laughed. Typical Jack, always so optimistic. Karen had always envied him for that.

"Yeah." She said, forcing a smile.

"How've you been? I see you're almost due."

Karen blushed a little. "Um, yeah. I've been good. And you?"

"I'm great. Farm life is tough, but its worth it for my family."

Karen's fists clenched. Was he just trying to rub it in? Because it certainly felt that way.

"I see." Karen said darkly. Jack, being naive, didn't notice her cold tone.

"So, how's Kai?"

"He's good." She said, once again lying. Nothing about her life was 'good'.

"Ah, that's cool. I saw him going into the bar last night, but I didn't bother saying hi."

"Oh?"

"Yep. I woulda said something, but I was already late getting home. Ann hates going to sleep alone."

_...Trust me, I know the feeling. _

"Oh, I see."

"Well, I better get going." He told her. "I'm just going out to get Tommy a piece of cake. His birthday's coming up."

"Okay. Well, I hope he has a good birthday."

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, me too." suddenly, his expression softened. "It was nice seeing you again, Karen."

She smiled, but avoided his eyes. "Yeah... You too."

"I hope we can talk again soon."

"Yeah... We will." Another lie. _Gee, Karen, three lies in one day! You must be going for a record or something. _She mentally thought. She lied way too much. Her and Jack waved to each other once more, before parting ways.

As Karen passed the flower shop, she heard some familiar voices. She heard Kai's and Popuri's. She was a rosette haired girl who's family owned the flower shop. Out of curiosity, she poked her head around the corner, and sure enough, Kai was chatting with her. She wondered why her own husband would rather talk to Popuri than her. Karen couldn't help herself; She had to eavesdrop. She had to know what they were talking about. By their expressions, it was serious.

"She's going to find out." Popuri said, her expression reading the utmost seriousness.

"I know." Kai nodded in agreement. "I have to start being more secretive. Think of new excuses. She's getting suspicious about this whole 'working late' thing."

"Maybe we should start during the day."

"We already do that."

"Then... Maybe we should just stop."

"No!" He objected. "No, we can't. I love you, Popuri."

And that was all she needed to hear. Never before in her life had she felt so betrayed. He was _cheating on her. _

_I should have known..._

It all made sense. The secret phone calls, the late hours, out drinking... All the bits and pieces of Karen's destroyed life were slowly coming back together. For the first time in months, she let herself go. She let herself go and cried, running home. She never stopped sprinting. She couldn't stop, not now. She raced into her house and packed together her things. It didn't take long; She didn't really have much. Most of the things in her house belonged to Kai. She swung her backpack over her shoulder and left the house. She didn't need to leave a note.

Kai didn't deserve that much.

Karen was disgusted. She trusted that man with her life. She stopped in her tracks before she got off the property, and looked down at her hand. A small gold wedding ring was there. Without thinking twice, she ripped it from her finger and threw it on the ground, before dashing forward again.

As she ran, she recalled an incident that had happened many years go.

...

_A sixteen year old Karen ran through the rain. She ran, and she wouldn't stop running. She wouldn't stop until she was away from _them.

_As she sprinted, her clothes sticking to her body from the heavy downpour, she crashed right into someone, causing her to ricochet off the person and land in the mud. She sat up and stared at the figure approaching her. _

_Jack._

_He offered her a hand, and she gladly took it. He pulled her to her feet. Only Karen could be drenched in mud and rain and still look beautiful._

_"Where are you going?" He asked, his eyes dancing with curiousity._

_"Away." Karen replied. She thought about shoving past him, but for whatever reason, she couldn't bring herself to do it._

_"Where?" He repeated. His voice was laced with concern; Typical._

_She sighed in defeat. He was going to make her tell him eventually, anyways. Karen plopped down in the mud, not caring that she was now even more miserable and uncomfortable. Much to her surprise, Jack sat down beside her. Her eyes lingered on his for a moment, before she confessed. _

_"Its my parents." She whimpered, tears coming to her eyes. "They're... They're horrible."_

_"What happened?"_

_"They just... They don't treat me right." She sobbed. "I can't take all this pressure, Jack. So much is piled on me; I'm going insane. They expect me to do all these things with my life that I just can't do."_

_"Well... Why not?"_

_"...What?"_

_"I mean, why can't you do it?" His inquirey confused Karen, and it showed in her expression. She quickly grew more flustered._

_"You don't understand!" She exclaimed, eyes now red from all of the tears. "I don't want to run a winery!"_

_"Then what do you want to do, Karen?" Jack practically spat/shouted, starling her immensely._

_She was speechless. She tried to think of some snippy comeback, but nothing came to mind. She couldn't even bring herself to tell her friend to fuck off like she normally did when he tried to sort out her problems. Sadly, Jack had a point. If Karen didn't know what she wanted to do, then how did she know that she didn't want to run the winery?_

_She looked at he older boy, and smiled. "Jack, thank you."_

...

It was easy for Karen to say that he'd saved her. But where was he now? This time, he wouldn't do it. This time, she was running away.

And she was **never** coming back.

* * *

  
**Author's note: **Hello everyone! I rewrote this chapter and am continuing the story. The next chapter will be rewritten as well, and a new third chapter will be added :)

**Review please!**


	2. Imperfection

**l i t e r a l . t o r t u r e**

**Chapter Two: Imperfection**

He hated this.

It was like torture; literally. Waking up every morning to a perfect family, only knowing that there was something missing.

Jack seemed to have it all; A successful farm, a loving wife, and a gorgeous baby boy. But deep down he knew that there was something lacking, something _big. _

Ann was great, sure. She was beautiful and caring, and she even helped out around the farm, which was good since Jack didn't have to do all the work. But again, something was missing. He just couldn't quite pinpoint it.

He often went to sleep, merely wondering what this feeling was. Was it longing? Possibly. Maybe, there was someone who he missed.

That day, Jack had run into Karen in town. She was passing through, all one her lonesome, excluding the unborn child sleeping in her belly. She was nearly due, that was evident. Still, she looked as pretty as she ever did, with those familiar emerald s and brunette/blonde hair. It didn't matter how pregnant she was. Even if she were old and wrinkled, in his eyes, she would always be beautiful. Because it was her imperfections that made her so special.

He then easily figured out what was missing from his seemingly perfect life.

It was _imperfection _that he longed for.

He missed his troubled teenage friend, the misunderstood one. He missed Karen.

He missed her laugh, her smile, everything. But most of all, he missed her insults.

Weird, eh? How he would miss being insulted by his best friend.

But it just wasn't the same! He wanted to hear Karen chuckle and say 'you're such a weirdo' just one more time. As he was walking home from town that day, Tommy's birthday cake in hand, he remembered when he had first met her.

-

_Jack had only moved into town about a week ago. He had been so busy fixing up the farm, that he didn't really have any time to go out and socialize. He was told by the mayor to go out to the old carpenter's house in the valley if he wanted to get any remodeling done on his house. At the time, it was pretty sad looking; Very vacant and small._

_So, he took the older man's advice and went out for the first time, other than a few trips to town. The valley was pretty basic, with a river and many trees, some woodland animals running around._

_Yep, nothing out of the ordinary._

_Until he saw _her.

_She was beautiful, with long brunette hair and blonde bangs. Her most noticeable feature, however, were her piercing green eyes. Jack was curious; he'd never seen her in town. He didn't even know her name, yet he was instantly captivated._

So, he approached her.

"_Hello," He smiled, "Um, I just moved in…" He pointed to the old log cabin she was standing near. "Is this the carpenter's house?"_

_She, much to his surprise, didn't smile and nod like the other villiages. She, in fact, flashed him a rather dirty look. "… Don't talk to me."_

_He frowned. "What?"  
__  
"I said don't talk to me!" She exclaimed. "Like, I don't even know you."  
__  
Jack found himself speechless. Even though she was pretty, she definitely didn't act like it. You would think that he would say something rude back, but Jack really wasn't that type of person. Instead, he pulled out some berries he had found on the way, and handed them to her. She eyed them suspiciously, before taking them. She looked at them for a moment. And that was when he first saw her smile._

_She grinned widely, lightening up all of her features. "You're such a weirdo." She chuckled, putting the berries in her pocket. She looked him in the eye and smiled. "Thanks." She extended out her hand. "I'm Karen, by the way."_

_He nodded and smiled, shaking her hand. "Jack."_

-

So, first impressions aren't always the best. Karen's first words to him made her seem like a completely unpleasant person, but in all truth she was _very _pleasant. Unlike any girl he had ever met. And that includes Ann, too.

She was clever, with a great sense of humor. She could be a bitch if she wanted to, but she always ended up laughing.

And soon after they met, they became best friends.

Jack was eighteen when his grandfather died, and he took over his farm in Flower Bud Village. Karen was two years younger, sixteen, but the age didn't make a difference. Neither did the difference in genders.

Karen was like 'one of the guys'. She sometimes acted like them, and she never really had many female friends. The girls in town weren't exactly her type. Not that there was really much to chose from.

There was Maria, the annoyingly shy librarian and the Mayor's daughter. There was Popuri, the overly preppy flower girl, Ellie, the sweet and friendly one… Ellie was okay, but Karen didn't get along with her. Its not that Karen didn't like Ellie, it was that Ellie didn't like Karen. And last but not least, there was Ann, the joyful, cute, and tomboyish one.

She wasn't a tomboy in the same way Karen was. No, she was more of a farmer, whilst Karen just liked to kick back and be lazy. They were polar opposites… Jack knew that Karen didn't like her very much.

But a year later, that no good Kai rolled on into town. Him and Karen became friends quickly. Jack was always jealous of him…

But when Kai asked Karen to marry him, and she accepted? That was where the line crossed.

Jack loved Karen. He was sure he was. He just never had the guts to tell her.

He regretted that so much.

He always beat himself up for it. He thought that maybe, just maybe, if he'd confessed to her, that they would have ended up together. That her and Kai would have remained friends, while her and Jack married.

He never went to their wedding.

He felt like such a jackass for not going. Karen knew that he was upset with her… She was just too naïve to understand why. After that, was when they grew apart. Now that she was married, he couldn't stop thinking that he needed to marry to. He was older than her, after all. He didn't like feeling like a child next to his seventeen year old friend.

So, he befriended the girl he liked the most of everyone.

Ann.

One thing lead to another, and they ended up married.

And what made things even worse, was that Karen went to the wedding. She went to it, enjoyed it, and smiled right at him as he waited for Ann to walk up the runway. When she was walking up, looking as beautiful as ever, all he could see was that familiar smile. The one he had fallen in love with the first time they met.

Jack was forced to quit living in the past when he arrived at his front door. He walked in, put the cake in the fridge, and then lay down in his bed. Ann was obviously out, probably buying Tom a last minute gift. She had brought the baby with her.

He didn't realize how tired he was until he was falling asleep.

* * *

Jack awoke only hours later to someone pounding on his door, louder than necessary. He lazily picked himself up and groaned, before walking over and answering the door. Much to his surprise, it was Kai who stood on the other side. His expression read a mixture of worry, anger, and hate. Jack frowned.

"Kai, what are you doing here?" He queried, trying not to sound rude.

"Where is she." He demanded, completely ignoring the question.

"Where is who?"

"Don't play dumb with me." He spat. "Karen! Where is she."

His frown deepened. "I… I don't know. The last time I saw her was in town."

"Did she say anything? Did she seem angry?"

"…No,I don't think so… Why, what happened?"

He sighed in frustration. "She's gone, Jack."

His eyebrows raised. "Gone? How?"

"I don't know!" Kai exclaimed. "But she left. While I was out, she just packed up her stuff and ditched."

"Well… I don't know what to say." Worry now creased Jack's expression. Where was she? And why did she leave? Was Kai even telling the truth?

"Just… never mind." Kai said, rolling his eyes as he turned to leave.

"Are you going to look for her?" Jack asked.

It took him a moment to answer. He looked Jack in the eye, before answering: "No." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small golden ring. He held it out to Jack, and the young farmer accepted it. He looked down at the small object in his hand. Something so beautiful, but it was covered in dirt and somehow looked sad while not with its proper owner.

"H-her wedding ring?" Jack's stuttered, but when he looked up, Kai was already gone.

Part of him wanted to go seek out Karen. He was worried and curious. Didn't she love Kai? So why would she run away…

Perhaps she was kidnapped, or in danger…

Nah.

Karen was _way _too tough for that. She would kick any kidnappers ass, pregnant or not. Jack knew that.

So something must have happened. Something Kai was keeping from him.

Jack bit his lip, thinking a lot harder than he usually did. He had a big decision to make.

Would he leave, a day before his son's birthday, or go seek out the woman he secretly still loved?

…

He just didn't know what to do. He couldn't just leave. What kind of husband would that make him? Then again, if he didn't go find Karen, that would make him a terrible friend too. So, he decided.

Even though he knew he would regret it, he had to find her. He wrote Ann a quick note, before racing out the door.

* * *

  
**Author's note: **Here is the chapter two rewrite! Hope you liked it (:

**review please :D**


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